CLEAR at UTA continues collaboration with the Apache Corporation

The Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation at The University of Texas at Arlington has extended its collaboration with the Apache Corporation to study surface and groundwater quality in the company’s Alpine High play in West Texas.

Apache’s continued sponsorship provides CLEAR support for targeted monitoring efforts throughout Reeves County that will cover thousands of organic, inorganic and biological constituents that may be found in water. Apache’s sponsorship of CLEAR’s research team started in 2016. The CLEAR team has been utilizing this funding to perform an independent analysis of water quality in the region and is in the process of preparing their findings for publication in a forthcoming peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“The water resources in and around Balmorhea are vital to the arid Trans-Pecos region,” said Zacariah Hildenbrand, co-founder of and scientific contributor to CLEAR. “Given the ecological, societal and economic significance of San Solomon Springs, we are fortunate to have this opportunity to comprehensively monitor these waters.”

“This has been an extremely fruitful collaboration,” said Professor Kevin Schug, Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry and co-founder and director of CLEAR. “Apache has provided the CLEAR team with full autonomy to conduct our measurements independently. Apache is simply facilitating our sampling efforts by providing access to regional water well sites for testing. A leading producer has willingly partnered with an independent academic research group to provide continual environmental monitoring of an area in West Texas that has rich resources, but also delicate ecosystems. There are few industry-academic partnerships of this type."

“Apache values the work of CLEAR and its ongoing study of water quality in the Alpine High region,” said Navneet Behl, Apache’s vice president of operations. “Apache is committed to ensuring development is done in an environmentally responsible manner, and we’ve taken a deliberate approach to ensure that. The work of capable, third-party institutions such as CLEAR is important to us and of benefit to all stakeholders in the region.”